We use cookies to customise content for your subscription and for analytics.If you continue to browse Lexology, we will assume that you are happy to receive all our cookies. For further information please read our Cookie Policy.

Poland: repeated calls for conciliation may not interrupt limitation period

Clients whose claims may be subject to limitation and who have already filed a motion to call for conciliation should consider bringing a statement of claim before the lapse of the limitation period instead of filing a repeated motion to call for conciliation.

Calls for conciliation are commonly used as a low-cost way of preserving claims without having to gather evidence or prepare the statement of claim. However, two inconsistent judgments issued in the past 12 months suggest that this practice is no longer safe.

In a January 2014 judgment, the Appellate Court in Warsaw ruled that the repeated filing of motions to call for conciliation relating to the same claim could be an abuse of the right and thus not affect the limitation period.

The case involved two such motions, each filed by the claimant shortly before the expiry of the limitation period. The court concluded that, as the claimant presented no evidence that the repeated motion could actually lead to a settlement, filing the second motion was contrary to the purpose of the conciliatory proceedings and therefore did not affect the limitation period.

However, in a June 2013 ruling, the Appellate Court in Gdansk stated that a creditor is entitled to file multiple motions to call for conciliation, regardless of whether they could actually lead to settlement and even if their effect would be to postpone the expiry of limitation period for a long time.